Bureaucrats, Administrators, vuser
40,380
edits
Changes
MyWikiBiz, Author Your Legacy — Sunday May 05, 2024
Jump to navigationJump to search
m
1 revision(s)
{{Infobox_President
| name = Millard Fillmore
| nationality = [[United States|American]]
| image = Millard Fillmore.jpg
| order = 13th [[President of the United States]]
| term_start = [[July 9]], [[1850]]
| term_end = [[March 4]], [[1853]]
| predecessor = [[Zachary Taylor]]
| successor = [[Franklin Pierce]]
| birth_date = {{birth date|1800|1|7|mf=y}}
| birth_place = [[Summerhill, New York]]
| death_date = {{death date and age|1874|03|08|1800|01|07}}
| death_place = [[Buffalo, New York]]
| spouse = [[Abigail Fillmore|Abigail Powers Fillmore]] (1st wife)<br> [[Caroline Fillmore|Caroline Carmichael McIntosh Fillmore]] (2nd wife)
| occupation = [[Lawyer]]
| party = [[Anti-Masonic Party|Anti-Masonic]], [[Whig Party (United States)|Whig]], [[Know-Nothing|American]]
| vice_president = none
| religion = [[Unitarian]]
| alma_mater=[[New Hope Academy]]
| order2 = 12th [[Vice President of the United States]]
| term_start2 = [[March 4]], [[1849]]
| term_end2 = [[July 9]], [[1850]]
| president2 = [[Zachary Taylor]]
| predecessor2 = [[George M. Dallas]]
| successor2 = [[William R. King]]
| signature = Millard Fillmore Signature.png
|}}
'''Millard Fillmore''' ([[January 7]], [[1800]] – [[March 8]], [[1874]]) was the thirteenth [[President of the United States]], serving from 1850 until 1853, and the last member of the [[Whig Party (United States)|Whig Party]] to hold that office. He was the second [[Vice President of the United States|Vice President]] to assume the Presidency upon the death of a sitting President, succeeding [[Zachary Taylor]] who died of what is thought to be acute [[gastroenteritis]] or [[hyperthermia]] (heat stroke). Fillmore was never elected President; after serving out Taylor's term, he failed to gain the nomination for the Presidency of the [[Whig Party (United States)|Whigs]] in the [[U.S. presidential election, 1852|1852 presidential election]], and, four years later, in the [[United States presidential election, 1856|1856 presidential election]], he again failed to win election as the [[Know Nothing|Know Nothing Party]] and Whig candidate.
==Early life and career==
Fillmore was born in a [[log cabin]] in [[Summerhill, New York]], to Nathaniel Fillmore and Phoebe Millard, as the second of nine children and the eldest son.<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761569065/Fillmore_Millard.html
|title= Millard Fillmore
| booktitle =Encarta}}</ref> (As this was three weeks after [[George Washington]]'s death, Fillmore was the first U.S. President born after the death of a former president.) Though a [[Unitarian]] in later life,<ref name="uua">{{cite conference
| first = F. Jay
| last = Deacon
| title = Transcendentalists, Abolitionism, and the Unitarian Association
| booktitle = UUA Collegium Lectures
| date = 1999
| location = [[Chicago]]
| url = http://www.uua.org/ga/ga00/514.html
| accessdate = 2006-12-28}}</ref>
Fillmore was descended from [[Scottish people|Scottish]] [[Presbyterian]]s on his father's side and English dissenters on his mother's. His father [[indentured servant|apprenticed]] him to a brutal cloth maker at age fifteen to learn the cloth-making trade. He also served as a home guard in the [[New York Guard|New York militia]] for some time. He struggled to obtain an education under frontier conditions, attending [[New Hope Academy]] for six months.
[[Image:Fillmore House.jpg|thumb|left|Millard Fillmore helped build this house in [[East Aurora, New York]], and lived here 1826-30.]]He fell in love with [[Abigail Fillmore|Abigail Powers]] , whom he later married on [[February 26]], [[1826]]. The couple had two children, [[Millard Powers Fillmore]] and [[Mary Abigail Fillmore]]. Later, Fillmore bought out his apprenticeship and moved to [[Buffalo, New York]], to continue his studies. He was admitted to the [[bar (law)|bar]] in [[1823]] and began his law practice in [[Aurora, Erie County, New York|East Aurora]]. In [[1834]], he formed a law partnership, Fillmore and Hall (becoming Fillmore, Hall and Haven in [[1836]]), with his good friend [[Nathan K. Hall]] (who would later serve in his cabinet as [[United States Postmaster General|Postmaster General]]).<ref name=Papers-1907>{{cite book | last = Fillmore| first = Millard | coauthors = Severance, Frank H. | title = Millard Fillmore Papers | publisher = Buffalo Historical Society | year = 1907 }}</ref> It would become one of western [[New York]]'s most prestigious firms.<ref name=Paletta_1988>{{cite book | last = Paletta| first = Lu Ann | coauthors = Worth, Fred L | title = The World Almanac of Presidential Facts | publisher = World Almanac Books | year = 1988 | id = ISBN 0345348885}}</ref>
In [[1846]], he founded the private University of Buffalo, which today is the public [[State University of New York at Buffalo]] (UB, University at Buffalo), the largest school in the New York state university system.
==Politics==
[[Image:MFillmore-congressman.jpg|thumb|right|120px|Engraving of Millard Fillmore]]In [[1828]], Fillmore was elected to the [[New York State Assembly]] on the [[Anti-Masonic Party|Anti-Masonic]] ticket, serving for one term, from [[1829]] to [[1831]]. He was later elected as a [[Whig Party (United States)|Whig]] (having followed his mentor [[Thurlow Weed]] into the party) to the [[Twenty-third United States Congress|23rd Congress]] in [[1832]], serving from [[1833]] to [[1835]]. He was re-elected in [[1836]] to the [[Twenty-fifth United States Congress|25th Congress]], to the [[Twenty-sixth United States Congress|26th]] and to the [[Twenty-seventh United States Congress|27th Congresses]] serving from 1837 to [[1843]], declining to be a candidate for re-nomination in [[1842]].
In Congress, he opposed the entrance of [[Texas]] as a [[Slave state|slave territory]]. He came in second place in the bid for [[Speaker of the United States House of Representatives|Speaker of the House of Representatives]] in [[1841]]. He served as chairman of the [[United States House Committee on Ways and Means|House Ways and Means Committee]] from [[1841]] to [[1843]] and was an author of the [[Tariff of 1842]], as well as two other bills that [[President of the United States|President]] [[John Tyler]] vetoed.
After leaving Congress, Fillmore was the unsuccessful [[Whig Party (United States)|Whig]] candidate for [[Governor of New York]] in [[1844]]. He served as [[New York State Comptroller]] from [[1847]] to [[1849]]. As state comptroller, he revised New York's banking system, making it a model for the future National Banking System.
==Vice Presidency 1849–1850==
At the Whig national convention in 1848, the nomination of Gen. [[Zachary Taylor]] for president angered the supporters of [[Henry Clay]] as well as the opponents of slavery extension into the territory gained by the [[U.S.-Mexican War]]. A group of practical Whig politicians nominated Fillmore for vice president, believing that he would heal party wounds and help the ticket carry New York state.
[[Image:Fillmore campaign.jpg|thumb|left|180px|Taylor/Fillmore campaign poster]]Having worked his way up through the Whig Party in New York, Fillmore was selected as Taylor's [[running mate]]. (It was thought that the obscure, self-made candidate from [[New York]] would complement Taylor, a slave-holding military man from the south.)
Fillmore was also selected in part to block New York state machine boss [[Thurlow Weed]] from receiving the vice presidential nomination (and his front man [[William H. Seward]] from receiving a position in Taylor's cabinet). Weed ultimately got Seward elected to the senate. This competition between Seward and Fillmore led to Seward's becoming a more vocal part of cabinet meetings and having more of a voice than Fillmore in advising the administration. The battle would continue even after Taylor's death.
Taylor and Fillmore disagreed on the [[slavery]] issue in the new western territories taken from [[Mexico]] in the [[Mexican-American War]]. Taylor wanted the new states to be free states, while Fillmore supported slavery in those states as a means of appeasing the South. In his own words: "God knows that I detest slavery, but it is an existing evil ... and we must endure it and give it such protection as is guaranteed by the Constitution."
Fillmore presided over the Senate during the months of nerve-wracking debates over the [[Compromise of 1850]]. During one debate, Senator [[Henry S. Foote]] of [[Mississippi]] pulled a pistol on Senator [[Thomas Hart Benton (senator)|Thomas Hart Benton]] of [[Missouri]]. Fillmore made no public comment on the merits of the compromise proposals, but a few days before President Taylor's death, Fillmore suggested to the president that, should there be a tie vote on Henry Clay's bill, he would vote in favor of the North.
==Presidency 1850–1853==
===Policies===
[[Image:Millard Fillmore White House portrait.png|thumb|right|180px|Official White House portrait of Millard Fillmore]]Fillmore ascended to the presidency upon the sudden and unexpected death of President Taylor in July 1850. The change in leadership also signaled an abrupt political shift in the administration, as Fillmore removed Taylor's entire cabinet, replacing them with individuals known to be favorable to the Compromise efforts. Fillmore signaled this shift by appointing [[Daniel Webster]] as his Secretary of State.
As president, Fillmore dealt with increasing party divisions within the Whig party; party harmony became one of his primary objectives. He tried to unite the party by pointing out the differences between the Whigs and the Democrats (by proposing tariff reforms that negatively reflected on the [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]]). Another primary objective of Fillmore was to preserve the Union from the intensifying slavery debate.
Henry Clay's proposed bill to admit [[California]] to the Union still aroused all the violent arguments for and against the extension of slavery without any progress toward settling the major issues (the South continued to threaten secession). Fillmore recognized that Clay's plan was the best way to end the sectional crisis (California free state, harsher fugitive slave law, abolish slave trade in DC). Clay, exhausted, left Washington to recuperate, passing leadership to Senator [[Stephen A. Douglas]] of Illinois. At this critical juncture, President Fillmore announced his support of the Compromise of 1850.
On [[August 6]], [[1850]], he sent a message to Congress recommending that [[Texas]] be paid to abandon its claims to part of [[New Mexico]]. This, combined with his mobilization of 750 Federal troops to New Mexico, helped shift a critical number of northern Whigs in Congress away from their insistence upon the [[Wilmot Proviso]]—the stipulation that all land gained by the Mexican War must be closed to slavery.
Douglas's effective strategy in Congress combined with Fillmore's pressure gave impetus to the Compromise movement. Breaking up Clay's single legislative package, Douglas presented five separate bills to the Senate:
*Admit California as a free state.
*Settle the Texas boundary and compensate the state for lost lands.
*Grant territorial status to New Mexico.
*Place federal officers at the disposal of slaveholders seeking escapees—the [[Fugitive Slave Act]].
*Abolish the slave trade in the [[Washington, D.C.|District of Columbia]].
[[Image:Portrait-MillyFillmore.jpg|thumb|right|180px|Portrait of Millard Fillmore]]Each measure obtained a majority, and, by [[September 20]], President Fillmore had signed them into law. Webster wrote, "I can now sleep of nights." Whigs on both sides refused to accept the finality of Fillmore's law (which led to more party division, and a loss of numerous elections), which forced Northern Whigs to say "God Save us from Whig Vice Presidents."
Fillmore's greatest difficulty with the fugitive slave law was how to enforce it without seeming to show favor towards Southern Whigs. His solution was to appease both northern and southern Whigs by calling for the enforcement of the fugitive slave law in the North, and enforcing in the South a law forbidding involvement in [[Cuba]] (for the sole purpose of adding it as a slave state).
Another issue that presented itself during Fillmore's presidency was the arrival of [[Louis Kossuth]] (exiled leader of a failed [[Hungary|Hungarian]] revolution). Kossuth wanted the United States to abandon its non-intervention policies when it came to European affairs and recognize Hungary’s independence. The problem came with the enormous support Kossuth received from German-American immigrants to the United States (who were essential in the re-election of both Whigs and Democrats). Fillmore refused to change American policy, and decided to remain neutral despite the political implications that neutrality would produce.
Fillmore appointed [[Brigham Young]] as the first governor of the Utah Territory in 1850.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://millercenter.org/academic/americanpresident/fillmore/essays/biography/8 |title=The American Franchise |accessdate=2008-03-13 |author= |date= |work=American President, An Online Reference Resource|publisher=Miller Center of Public Affairs, University of Virginia}}</ref> Utah now contains a city and county named after Millard Fillmore.
Another important legacy of Fillmore's administration was the sending of [[Commodore (USN)|Commodore]] [[Matthew Perry (naval officer)|Matthew C. Perry]] to open [[Japan]] to Western trade, though Perry did not reach Japan until [[Franklin Pierce]] had replaced Fillmore as president. A less dramatic legacy is that Fillmore, a bookworm, found the [[White House]] devoid of books and initiated the White House library.
===Administration and cabinet ===
{{Infobox U.S. Cabinet
|align=left
|clear=yes
|Name=Fillmore
|President=Millard Fillmore
|President start=1850
|President end=1853
|Vice President=''None''
|Vice President start=1850
|Vice President end=1853
|State=[[Daniel Webster]]
|State start=1850
|State end=1852
|State 2=[[Edward Everett]]
|State start 2=1852
|State end 2=1853
|War=[[Charles Magill Conrad|Charles M. Conrad]]
|War start=1850
|War end=1853
|Treasury=[[Thomas Corwin]]
|Treasury start=1850
|Treasury end=1853
|Justice=[[John J. Crittenden]]
|Justice start=1850
|Justice end=1853
|Post=[[Nathan K. Hall]]
|Post start=1850
|Post end=1852
|Post 2=[[Samuel Dickinson Hubbard|Samuel D. Hubbard]]
|Post start 2=1852
|Post end 2=1853
|Navy=[[William A. Graham]]
|Navy start=1850
|Navy end=1852
|Navy 2=[[John P. Kennedy]]
|Navy start 2=1852
|Navy end 2=1853
|Interior=[[Thomas McKean Thompson McKennan|Thomas M. T. McKennan]]
|Interior date=1850
|Interior 2=[[Alexander Hugh Holmes Stuart|Alexander H. H. Stuart]]
|Interior start 2=1850
|Interior end 2=1853
}}
=== Supreme Court appointments ===
Fillmore appointed the following Justices to the [[Supreme Court of the United States]]:
* [[Benjamin Robbins Curtis]] - 1851 (Associate Justice)
=== States admitted to the Union ===
* [[California]] – [[September 9]], [[1850]]
==Legacy==
Some northern Whigs remained irreconcilable, refusing to forgive Fillmore for having signed the [[Fugitive Slave Law of 1850|Fugitive Slave Act]]. They helped deprive him of the Presidential nomination in 1852. Within a few years it was apparent that although the Compromise had been intended to settle the slavery controversy, it served rather as an uneasy sectional truce.
Because the Whig party was so deeply divided, and the two leading national figures in the Whig party (Fillmore and his own Secretary of State, Daniel Webster) refused to combine to secure the nomination, [[Winfield Scott]] received it. Because both the north and the south refused to unite behind Scott, he won only 4 of 31 states, and lost the election to Franklin Pierce.
After Fillmore's defeat the Whig party continued its downward spiral with further party division coming at the hands of the Kansas Nebraska Act, and the emergence of the Know Nothing party.
== Later life ==
[[Image:DSCN4470 buffalofillmorestatue e.jpg|thumb|right|120px|Statue of Fillmore outside City Hall in downtown [[Buffalo, New York]].]]
Fillmore was one of the founders of the [[University at Buffalo, The State University of New York|University of Buffalo]]. The school was chartered by an act of the New York State Legislature on [[May 11]], [[1846]], and at first was only a medical school.[http://ublib.buffalo.edu/archives/timeline/time1.html] Fillmore was the first [[Chancellor (education)|Chancellor]], a position he maintained while both Vice President and President. Upon completing his presidency, Fillmore returned to Buffalo, where he continued to serve as chancellor.
After the death of his daughter [[Mary Abigail Fillmore|Mary]], Fillmore went abroad. While touring [[Europe]] in 1855, Fillmore was offered an [[Honorary doctorate|honorary]] [[Doctor of Civil Law]] (D.C.L.) degree by the [[University of Oxford]]. Fillmore turned down the honor, explaining that he had neither the "literary nor scientific attainment" to justify the degree.[http://www.ipl.org/div/potus/mfillmore.html] He is also quoted as having explained that he "lacked the benefit of a classical education" and could not, therefore, understand the [[Latin]] text of the [[diploma]], then joking that he believed "no man should accept a degree he cannot read."[http://www.hwwilson.com/Print/Facts%20Pres%20Sample.pdf]
[[Image:Fillmore2.JPG|thumb|left|120px|Fillmore/Donelson campaign poster.]]By 1856, Fillmore's Whig Party had ceased to exist, having fallen apart due to dissension over the slavery issue, and especially the [[Kansas-Nebraska Act]] of 1854. Fillmore refused to join the new [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party]], where many former Whigs, including [[Abraham Lincoln]], had found refuge. Instead, Fillmore joined the anti-immigrant, anti-Catholic [[American Party]], the political organ of the [[Know-Nothing movement]].
He ran in the [[United States presidential election, 1856|'''election of 1856''']] as the party's presidential candidate, attempting to win a non-consecutive second term as President (a feat accomplished only once in American politics, by [[Grover Cleveland]]). His running mate was [[Andrew Jackson Donelson]], nephew of former president [[Andrew Jackson]]. Fillmore and Donelson finished third, carrying only the state of Maryland and its eight electoral votes; but he won 21.6% of the popular vote, one of the best showings ever by a Presidential third-party candidate.[[Image:Fillmore Gravesite, Buffalo, NY.jpg|thumb|right|120px|A pink obelisk marks Millard Fillmore's grave at [[Buffalo, New York|Buffalo]]'s [[Forest Lawn Cemetery (Buffalo)|Forest Lawn Cemetery]].]]
On [[February 10]], [[1858]], after the death of his first wife, Fillmore married [[Caroline Fillmore|Caroline McIntosh]], a wealthy widow. Their combined wealth allowed them to purchase a big house in Buffalo, New York. The house became the center of hospitality for visitors, until her health began to decline in the 1860s.
Throughout the [[American Civil War|Civil War]], Fillmore opposed [[Abraham Lincoln|President Lincoln]] and during [[Reconstruction]] supported [[Andrew Johnson|President Johnson]]. He commanded the Union Continentals, a corps of [[militia|home guard]]s of males over the age of 45 from the [[Upstate New York]] area, during the Civil War.
He died at 11:10 p.m. on [[March 8]], [[1874]], of the after-effects of a [[stroke]]. His last words were alleged to be, upon being fed some soup, "my only regret in death is that the Whig dies with me." On [[January 7]] each year, a ceremony is held at his grave site in the [[Forest Lawn Cemetery (Buffalo)|Forest Lawn Cemetery]] in Buffalo.
==Places named after Fillmore==
*[[Fillmore Glen State Park]], New York
*[[Fillmore County, Minnesota]]
*[[Fillmore County, Nebraska]]
*[[Fillmore, Utah]]
*[[Millard County, Utah]]
*Fillmore Avenue, on the East Side of [[Buffalo, New York]]
*Millard Fillmore Gates Circle Hospital, Buffalo
*Millard Fillmore Suburban Hospital, [[Williamsville, New York]]
*Millard Fillmore Academic Center at the [[University at Buffalo]]'s Ellicott Complex
*Fillmore Street, in downtown [[San Francisco, California]],<ref>{{cite web|
|url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/e/a/1997/02/08/NEWS10248.dtl&hw=jonestown&sn=164&sc=132
|title="Fillmore Street name change urged"
|work=[[San Francisco Chronicle|SFGate.com]]
|first=Gregory
|last=Lewis
|date=[[February 8]], [[1997]]
|accessdate=2008-02-25
}}</ref> after which, in turn, the [[The Fillmore|Fillmore Auditorium]] was named
*Fillmore Street, in downtown [[Phoenix, Arizona]]
==Trivia==
{{trivia|date=February 2008}}
*Fillmore Junior High School in the television series [[The Brady Bunch]]
*The 1980s sitcom [[Head of the Class]] took place at the fictional "Millard Fillmore High School".
*The comic strip [[Mallard Fillmore]] is named after the president.
*In 2007, [[George Pendle]] wrote ''The Remarkable Millard Fillmore'', a fake biography based on real events that happened in Fillmore's life.
*In February 2008, a television commercial for a sales event by [[Kia]] Motors featured Millard Fillmore, referring to him as "Unheard of," claims he had the first [[Bathtub hoax|bathtub]] installed in the [[White House]], and presented a Millard Fillmore bust as a 'Soap-On-A-Rope.' This story may have begun as a hoax by [[Henry Louis Mencken]].<ref>http://sniggle.net/bathtub.php</ref><ref>[http://members.aol.com/zoticus/bathlib/menck/ambath.htm H. L. Mencken: "A Neglected Anniversary"<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref><ref>[http://theplumber.com/white.html White House Plumbing<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref><ref>[http://plumbingworld.com/historywhitehouse.html Plumbing History in The White House<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>
[[Image:millard fillmore stamp.JPG|thumb|right|120px|Millard Fillmore postage stamp]]
*The myth that Millard Fillmore installed the [[White House]]'s first [[bathtub]] was started by [[H. L. Mencken]] in a joke column published on [[December 28]], [[1917]] in the ''[[New York Evening Mail]].'' (See [[Bathtub hoax]])
*Millard Fillmore was the last U.S. president who was neither a [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrat]] nor a [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] (although [[Abraham Lincoln]] was re-elected in 1864 running on the [[National Union Party (United States)|National Union Party]] ticket with Democrat [[Andrew Johnson]] as his running mate).
*Fillmore is the first of two presidents to have been an [[indentured servant]]. He was a [[Fulling|clothmaker]].
*[[Friends of Millard Filmore]], or FOMF, is an annual trivia hunt founded by Dr. Robert Hunter in 1967 at [[Carlmont High School]], several schools in Northern California participate in this highly competitive event.
==Electoral history==
'''[[United States presidential election, 1848]]'''
* [[Zachary Taylor]]/[[Millard Fillmore]] (Whig) - 1,361,393 (47.3%) and 163 electoral votes (16 states carried)
* [[Lewis Cass]]/[[William Orlando Butler]] (Democrats) - 1,223,460 (42.5%) and 127 electoral votes (15 states carried)
* [[Martin Van Buren]]/[[Charles Francis Adams, Sr.]] (Free Soil) - 291,501 (10.1%) and 0 electoral votes
'''[[United States presidential election, 1856]]'''
* [[James Buchanan]]/[[John C. Breckinridge]] (Democrats) - 1,836,072 (45.3%) and 174 electoral votes (19 states carried)
* [[John C. Fremont]]/[[William L. Dayton]] (Republicans) - 1,342,345 (33.1%) and 114 electoral votes (11 states carried)
* [[Millard Fillmore]]/[[Andrew Jackson Donelson]] (Know-Nothing/Whig) - 873,053 (21.6%) and 8 electoral votes (1 state carried)
==Plaques to Fillmore==
<gallery>
Image:Fillmore Home 2.jpg|Fillmore's East Aurora house was moved off Main Street.
Image:Fillmore House NHL.jpg|The house is designated a [[National Historic Landmark]].
Image:Fillmore DAR.jpg|The [[DAR]] placed this plaque on the house in 1931.
Image:Fillmore plot plaque.jpg|A memorial to Fillmore on the gate surrounding his plot in Buffalo.
Image:Fillmore obelisk detail.jpg|Detail of the Fillmore obelisk in Buffalo.
Image:Abigail Powers headstone.jpg|First Lady [[Abigail Powers]] is buried near her husband.
</gallery>
==See also==
* [[U.S. presidential election, 1848]]
* [[U.S. presidential election, 1856]]
* [[William Gannaway Brownlow]]
* [[Runaway Officials of 1851]]
==Notes==
{{reflist|2}}
==References==
* Holt, Michael F. "Millard Fillmore”. The American Presidency. Ed.Alan Brinkley,Davis Dyer.2004.145-151.
* Deusen, Van Glydon. "The American Presidency". Encyclopedia Americana. Accessed 9, May 2007.[http://ap.grolier.com/article?assetid=0156400-00&templatename=/article/article.html]
==External links==
{{wikisource author}}
{{wikiquote}}
{{Commons}}
{{CongBio|F000115}}
* [http://www.millercenter.virginia.edu/index.php/academic/americanpresident/fillmore Extensive essay on Millard Fillmore and shorter essays on each member of his cabinet and First Lady from the Miller Center of Public Affairs]
* [http://www.usa-presidents.info/union/fillmore-1.html First State of the Union Address]
* [http://www.usa-presidents.info/union/fillmore-2.html Second State of the Union Address]
* [http://www.usa-presidents.info/union/fillmore-3.html Third State of the Union Address]
* [http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/mf13.html White House Biography]
*[http://MillardFillmore.org Biography by Appleton's and Stanley L. Klos]
* {{gutenberg author| id=Millard+Fillmore | name=Millard Fillmore}}
* [http://obits.com/fillmoremillard.html Millard Fillmore Internet Obituary]
* [http://freenet.buffalo.edu/bah/h/niagsq/fil/index.html Millard Fillmore House, Buffalo, NY]
* [http://www.ah.phpwebhosting.com/a/shearer/mus/hist/ Millard and Abigail Fillmore House, East Aurora, NY]
* [http://ap.grolier.com/article?assetid=0156400-00 Millard Fillmore at Encyclopedia American: The American Presidency]
{{s-start}}
{{s-par|us-hs}}
{{s-new|district}}
{{s-ttl|title=Member from [[New York's 32nd congressional district|New York's<br />32nd congressional district]]|years=March 4, 1833 – March 3, 1835}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Thomas C. Love]]}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Thomas C. Love]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=Member from [[New York's 32nd congressional district|New York's<br />32nd congressional district]]|years=March 4, 1837 – March 3, 1843}}
{{s-aft|after=[[William A. Moseley]]}}
{{s-off}}
{{s-bef|before=[[John Winston Jones|John W. Jones]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[United States House Committee on Ways and Means#Chairpersons|Chairman of the United States House<br />Ways and Means Committee]]|years=1841 – 1843}}
{{s-aft|after=[[James Iver McKay|James I. McKay]]}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Azariah Cutting Flagg|Azariah C. Flagg]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[New York State Comptroller]]|years=1847 – 1849}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Washington Hunt]]}}
{{s-bef|before=[[George M. Dallas]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Vice President of the United States]]|years=March 4, 1849¹ – July 9, 1850²}}
{{s-aft|after=[[William R. King]]}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Zachary Taylor]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[President of the United States]]|years=July 9, 1850³ – March 4, 1853}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Franklin Pierce]]}}
{{s-ppo}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Theodore Frelinghuysen]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[United States Whig Party#Candidates|Whig Party vice presidential candidate]]|years=[[U.S. presidential election, 1848|1848]]}}
{{s-aft|after=[[William A. Graham]]}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Winfield Scott]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[United States Whig Party#Candidates|Whig Party presidential candidate]]|years=[[U.S. presidential election, 1856|1856]]}}
{{s-aft|after=[[John Bell (Tennessee politician)|John Bell]]}}
{{s-new|party}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Know-Nothing movement|American Party presidential candidate]]|years=[[U.S. presidential election, 1856|1856]]}}
{{s-non|reason=Party disbanded}}
{{s-hon}}
{{s-bef|before=[[James Buchanan]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Oldest living United States president|Oldest U.S. President still living]]|years=June 1, 1868 – March 8, 1874}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Andrew Johnson]]}}
{{s-ref|Although Fillmore's term started on March 4, he did not take the oath of office until March 5.|President Zachary Taylor died on July 9.|Fillmore took the oath of office on July 10.}}
{{USPresidents}}
{{US Vice Presidents}}
{{USWhigPresNominees}}
{{USWhigVicePresNominees}}
{{Buffalo(NY)}}
{{Persondata
|NAME=Fillmore, Millard
|ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
|SHORT DESCRIPTION=13th President of the United States, 12th Vice President of the United States
|DATE OF BIRTH=January 7, 1800
|PLACE OF BIRTH=Summerhill, New York
|DATE OF DEATH=March 8, 1874
|PLACE OF DEATH=Buffalo, New York
}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fillmore, Millard}}
[[Category:1800 births]]
[[Category:1874 deaths]]
[[Category:American Unitarians]]
[[Category:History of the United States (1849–1865)]]
[[Category:Members of the New York Assembly]]
[[Category:Members of the United States House of Representatives from New York]]
[[Category:New York State Comptrollers]]
[[Category:People from Cayuga County, New York]]
[[Category:Presidents of the United States]]
[[Category:United States Whig Party]]
[[Category:University at Buffalo]]
[[Category:Vice Presidents of the United States]]
[[Category:Whig Party (United States) presidential nominees]]
[[Category:Know Nothing]]
[[Category:United States presidential candidates, 1856]]
[[Category:Whig Party (United States) vice presidential nominees]]
[[Category:Deaths by stroke]]
[[ang:Millard Fillmore]]
[[ar:ميلارد فيلمور]]
[[bg:Милърд Филмор]]
[[bn:মিলার্ড ফিল্মোর]]
[[bs:Millard Fillmore]]
[[co:Millard Filmore]]
[[cs:Millard Fillmore]]
[[cy:Millard Fillmore]]
[[da:Millard Fillmore]]
[[de:Millard Fillmore]]
[[eo:Millard Fillmore]]
[[es:Millard Fillmore]]
[[et:Millard Fillmore]]
[[fa:میلارد فیلمور]]
[[fi:Millard Fillmore]]
[[fr:Millard Fillmore]]
[[ga:Millard Fillmore]]
[[gl:Millard Fillmore]]
[[he:מילרד פילמור]]
[[hi:मिलर्ड फिलमोर]]
[[hr:Millard Fillmore]]
[[id:Millard Fillmore]]
[[io:Millard Fillmore]]
[[it:Millard Fillmore]]
[[ja:ミラード・フィルモア]]
[[ka:მილარდ ფილმორი]]
[[ko:밀러드 필모어]]
[[la:Milvardus Fillmore]]
[[lv:Milards Filmors]]
[[mr:मिलार्ड फिलमोर]]
[[ms:Millard Fillmore]]
[[nl:Millard Fillmore]]
[[nn:Millard Fillmore]]
[[no:Millard Fillmore]]
[[oc:Millard Fillmore]]
[[pam:Millard Fillmore]]
[[pl:Millard Fillmore]]
[[pt:Millard Fillmore]]
[[rm:Millard Fillmore]]
[[ro:Millard Fillmore]]
[[ru:Филлмор, Миллард]]
[[sh:Millard Fillmore]]
[[simple:Millard Fillmore]]
[[sl:Millard Fillmore]]
[[sq:Millard Fillmore]]
[[sv:Millard Fillmore]]
[[sw:Millard Fillmore]]
[[tr:Millard Fillmore]]
[[vi:Millard Fillmore]]
[[yi:מילארד פילמאר]]
[[zh:米勒德·菲尔莫尔]]
| name = Millard Fillmore
| nationality = [[United States|American]]
| image = Millard Fillmore.jpg
| order = 13th [[President of the United States]]
| term_start = [[July 9]], [[1850]]
| term_end = [[March 4]], [[1853]]
| predecessor = [[Zachary Taylor]]
| successor = [[Franklin Pierce]]
| birth_date = {{birth date|1800|1|7|mf=y}}
| birth_place = [[Summerhill, New York]]
| death_date = {{death date and age|1874|03|08|1800|01|07}}
| death_place = [[Buffalo, New York]]
| spouse = [[Abigail Fillmore|Abigail Powers Fillmore]] (1st wife)<br> [[Caroline Fillmore|Caroline Carmichael McIntosh Fillmore]] (2nd wife)
| occupation = [[Lawyer]]
| party = [[Anti-Masonic Party|Anti-Masonic]], [[Whig Party (United States)|Whig]], [[Know-Nothing|American]]
| vice_president = none
| religion = [[Unitarian]]
| alma_mater=[[New Hope Academy]]
| order2 = 12th [[Vice President of the United States]]
| term_start2 = [[March 4]], [[1849]]
| term_end2 = [[July 9]], [[1850]]
| president2 = [[Zachary Taylor]]
| predecessor2 = [[George M. Dallas]]
| successor2 = [[William R. King]]
| signature = Millard Fillmore Signature.png
|}}
'''Millard Fillmore''' ([[January 7]], [[1800]] – [[March 8]], [[1874]]) was the thirteenth [[President of the United States]], serving from 1850 until 1853, and the last member of the [[Whig Party (United States)|Whig Party]] to hold that office. He was the second [[Vice President of the United States|Vice President]] to assume the Presidency upon the death of a sitting President, succeeding [[Zachary Taylor]] who died of what is thought to be acute [[gastroenteritis]] or [[hyperthermia]] (heat stroke). Fillmore was never elected President; after serving out Taylor's term, he failed to gain the nomination for the Presidency of the [[Whig Party (United States)|Whigs]] in the [[U.S. presidential election, 1852|1852 presidential election]], and, four years later, in the [[United States presidential election, 1856|1856 presidential election]], he again failed to win election as the [[Know Nothing|Know Nothing Party]] and Whig candidate.
==Early life and career==
Fillmore was born in a [[log cabin]] in [[Summerhill, New York]], to Nathaniel Fillmore and Phoebe Millard, as the second of nine children and the eldest son.<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761569065/Fillmore_Millard.html
|title= Millard Fillmore
| booktitle =Encarta}}</ref> (As this was three weeks after [[George Washington]]'s death, Fillmore was the first U.S. President born after the death of a former president.) Though a [[Unitarian]] in later life,<ref name="uua">{{cite conference
| first = F. Jay
| last = Deacon
| title = Transcendentalists, Abolitionism, and the Unitarian Association
| booktitle = UUA Collegium Lectures
| date = 1999
| location = [[Chicago]]
| url = http://www.uua.org/ga/ga00/514.html
| accessdate = 2006-12-28}}</ref>
Fillmore was descended from [[Scottish people|Scottish]] [[Presbyterian]]s on his father's side and English dissenters on his mother's. His father [[indentured servant|apprenticed]] him to a brutal cloth maker at age fifteen to learn the cloth-making trade. He also served as a home guard in the [[New York Guard|New York militia]] for some time. He struggled to obtain an education under frontier conditions, attending [[New Hope Academy]] for six months.
[[Image:Fillmore House.jpg|thumb|left|Millard Fillmore helped build this house in [[East Aurora, New York]], and lived here 1826-30.]]He fell in love with [[Abigail Fillmore|Abigail Powers]] , whom he later married on [[February 26]], [[1826]]. The couple had two children, [[Millard Powers Fillmore]] and [[Mary Abigail Fillmore]]. Later, Fillmore bought out his apprenticeship and moved to [[Buffalo, New York]], to continue his studies. He was admitted to the [[bar (law)|bar]] in [[1823]] and began his law practice in [[Aurora, Erie County, New York|East Aurora]]. In [[1834]], he formed a law partnership, Fillmore and Hall (becoming Fillmore, Hall and Haven in [[1836]]), with his good friend [[Nathan K. Hall]] (who would later serve in his cabinet as [[United States Postmaster General|Postmaster General]]).<ref name=Papers-1907>{{cite book | last = Fillmore| first = Millard | coauthors = Severance, Frank H. | title = Millard Fillmore Papers | publisher = Buffalo Historical Society | year = 1907 }}</ref> It would become one of western [[New York]]'s most prestigious firms.<ref name=Paletta_1988>{{cite book | last = Paletta| first = Lu Ann | coauthors = Worth, Fred L | title = The World Almanac of Presidential Facts | publisher = World Almanac Books | year = 1988 | id = ISBN 0345348885}}</ref>
In [[1846]], he founded the private University of Buffalo, which today is the public [[State University of New York at Buffalo]] (UB, University at Buffalo), the largest school in the New York state university system.
==Politics==
[[Image:MFillmore-congressman.jpg|thumb|right|120px|Engraving of Millard Fillmore]]In [[1828]], Fillmore was elected to the [[New York State Assembly]] on the [[Anti-Masonic Party|Anti-Masonic]] ticket, serving for one term, from [[1829]] to [[1831]]. He was later elected as a [[Whig Party (United States)|Whig]] (having followed his mentor [[Thurlow Weed]] into the party) to the [[Twenty-third United States Congress|23rd Congress]] in [[1832]], serving from [[1833]] to [[1835]]. He was re-elected in [[1836]] to the [[Twenty-fifth United States Congress|25th Congress]], to the [[Twenty-sixth United States Congress|26th]] and to the [[Twenty-seventh United States Congress|27th Congresses]] serving from 1837 to [[1843]], declining to be a candidate for re-nomination in [[1842]].
In Congress, he opposed the entrance of [[Texas]] as a [[Slave state|slave territory]]. He came in second place in the bid for [[Speaker of the United States House of Representatives|Speaker of the House of Representatives]] in [[1841]]. He served as chairman of the [[United States House Committee on Ways and Means|House Ways and Means Committee]] from [[1841]] to [[1843]] and was an author of the [[Tariff of 1842]], as well as two other bills that [[President of the United States|President]] [[John Tyler]] vetoed.
After leaving Congress, Fillmore was the unsuccessful [[Whig Party (United States)|Whig]] candidate for [[Governor of New York]] in [[1844]]. He served as [[New York State Comptroller]] from [[1847]] to [[1849]]. As state comptroller, he revised New York's banking system, making it a model for the future National Banking System.
==Vice Presidency 1849–1850==
At the Whig national convention in 1848, the nomination of Gen. [[Zachary Taylor]] for president angered the supporters of [[Henry Clay]] as well as the opponents of slavery extension into the territory gained by the [[U.S.-Mexican War]]. A group of practical Whig politicians nominated Fillmore for vice president, believing that he would heal party wounds and help the ticket carry New York state.
[[Image:Fillmore campaign.jpg|thumb|left|180px|Taylor/Fillmore campaign poster]]Having worked his way up through the Whig Party in New York, Fillmore was selected as Taylor's [[running mate]]. (It was thought that the obscure, self-made candidate from [[New York]] would complement Taylor, a slave-holding military man from the south.)
Fillmore was also selected in part to block New York state machine boss [[Thurlow Weed]] from receiving the vice presidential nomination (and his front man [[William H. Seward]] from receiving a position in Taylor's cabinet). Weed ultimately got Seward elected to the senate. This competition between Seward and Fillmore led to Seward's becoming a more vocal part of cabinet meetings and having more of a voice than Fillmore in advising the administration. The battle would continue even after Taylor's death.
Taylor and Fillmore disagreed on the [[slavery]] issue in the new western territories taken from [[Mexico]] in the [[Mexican-American War]]. Taylor wanted the new states to be free states, while Fillmore supported slavery in those states as a means of appeasing the South. In his own words: "God knows that I detest slavery, but it is an existing evil ... and we must endure it and give it such protection as is guaranteed by the Constitution."
Fillmore presided over the Senate during the months of nerve-wracking debates over the [[Compromise of 1850]]. During one debate, Senator [[Henry S. Foote]] of [[Mississippi]] pulled a pistol on Senator [[Thomas Hart Benton (senator)|Thomas Hart Benton]] of [[Missouri]]. Fillmore made no public comment on the merits of the compromise proposals, but a few days before President Taylor's death, Fillmore suggested to the president that, should there be a tie vote on Henry Clay's bill, he would vote in favor of the North.
==Presidency 1850–1853==
===Policies===
[[Image:Millard Fillmore White House portrait.png|thumb|right|180px|Official White House portrait of Millard Fillmore]]Fillmore ascended to the presidency upon the sudden and unexpected death of President Taylor in July 1850. The change in leadership also signaled an abrupt political shift in the administration, as Fillmore removed Taylor's entire cabinet, replacing them with individuals known to be favorable to the Compromise efforts. Fillmore signaled this shift by appointing [[Daniel Webster]] as his Secretary of State.
As president, Fillmore dealt with increasing party divisions within the Whig party; party harmony became one of his primary objectives. He tried to unite the party by pointing out the differences between the Whigs and the Democrats (by proposing tariff reforms that negatively reflected on the [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]]). Another primary objective of Fillmore was to preserve the Union from the intensifying slavery debate.
Henry Clay's proposed bill to admit [[California]] to the Union still aroused all the violent arguments for and against the extension of slavery without any progress toward settling the major issues (the South continued to threaten secession). Fillmore recognized that Clay's plan was the best way to end the sectional crisis (California free state, harsher fugitive slave law, abolish slave trade in DC). Clay, exhausted, left Washington to recuperate, passing leadership to Senator [[Stephen A. Douglas]] of Illinois. At this critical juncture, President Fillmore announced his support of the Compromise of 1850.
On [[August 6]], [[1850]], he sent a message to Congress recommending that [[Texas]] be paid to abandon its claims to part of [[New Mexico]]. This, combined with his mobilization of 750 Federal troops to New Mexico, helped shift a critical number of northern Whigs in Congress away from their insistence upon the [[Wilmot Proviso]]—the stipulation that all land gained by the Mexican War must be closed to slavery.
Douglas's effective strategy in Congress combined with Fillmore's pressure gave impetus to the Compromise movement. Breaking up Clay's single legislative package, Douglas presented five separate bills to the Senate:
*Admit California as a free state.
*Settle the Texas boundary and compensate the state for lost lands.
*Grant territorial status to New Mexico.
*Place federal officers at the disposal of slaveholders seeking escapees—the [[Fugitive Slave Act]].
*Abolish the slave trade in the [[Washington, D.C.|District of Columbia]].
[[Image:Portrait-MillyFillmore.jpg|thumb|right|180px|Portrait of Millard Fillmore]]Each measure obtained a majority, and, by [[September 20]], President Fillmore had signed them into law. Webster wrote, "I can now sleep of nights." Whigs on both sides refused to accept the finality of Fillmore's law (which led to more party division, and a loss of numerous elections), which forced Northern Whigs to say "God Save us from Whig Vice Presidents."
Fillmore's greatest difficulty with the fugitive slave law was how to enforce it without seeming to show favor towards Southern Whigs. His solution was to appease both northern and southern Whigs by calling for the enforcement of the fugitive slave law in the North, and enforcing in the South a law forbidding involvement in [[Cuba]] (for the sole purpose of adding it as a slave state).
Another issue that presented itself during Fillmore's presidency was the arrival of [[Louis Kossuth]] (exiled leader of a failed [[Hungary|Hungarian]] revolution). Kossuth wanted the United States to abandon its non-intervention policies when it came to European affairs and recognize Hungary’s independence. The problem came with the enormous support Kossuth received from German-American immigrants to the United States (who were essential in the re-election of both Whigs and Democrats). Fillmore refused to change American policy, and decided to remain neutral despite the political implications that neutrality would produce.
Fillmore appointed [[Brigham Young]] as the first governor of the Utah Territory in 1850.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://millercenter.org/academic/americanpresident/fillmore/essays/biography/8 |title=The American Franchise |accessdate=2008-03-13 |author= |date= |work=American President, An Online Reference Resource|publisher=Miller Center of Public Affairs, University of Virginia}}</ref> Utah now contains a city and county named after Millard Fillmore.
Another important legacy of Fillmore's administration was the sending of [[Commodore (USN)|Commodore]] [[Matthew Perry (naval officer)|Matthew C. Perry]] to open [[Japan]] to Western trade, though Perry did not reach Japan until [[Franklin Pierce]] had replaced Fillmore as president. A less dramatic legacy is that Fillmore, a bookworm, found the [[White House]] devoid of books and initiated the White House library.
===Administration and cabinet ===
{{Infobox U.S. Cabinet
|align=left
|clear=yes
|Name=Fillmore
|President=Millard Fillmore
|President start=1850
|President end=1853
|Vice President=''None''
|Vice President start=1850
|Vice President end=1853
|State=[[Daniel Webster]]
|State start=1850
|State end=1852
|State 2=[[Edward Everett]]
|State start 2=1852
|State end 2=1853
|War=[[Charles Magill Conrad|Charles M. Conrad]]
|War start=1850
|War end=1853
|Treasury=[[Thomas Corwin]]
|Treasury start=1850
|Treasury end=1853
|Justice=[[John J. Crittenden]]
|Justice start=1850
|Justice end=1853
|Post=[[Nathan K. Hall]]
|Post start=1850
|Post end=1852
|Post 2=[[Samuel Dickinson Hubbard|Samuel D. Hubbard]]
|Post start 2=1852
|Post end 2=1853
|Navy=[[William A. Graham]]
|Navy start=1850
|Navy end=1852
|Navy 2=[[John P. Kennedy]]
|Navy start 2=1852
|Navy end 2=1853
|Interior=[[Thomas McKean Thompson McKennan|Thomas M. T. McKennan]]
|Interior date=1850
|Interior 2=[[Alexander Hugh Holmes Stuart|Alexander H. H. Stuart]]
|Interior start 2=1850
|Interior end 2=1853
}}
=== Supreme Court appointments ===
Fillmore appointed the following Justices to the [[Supreme Court of the United States]]:
* [[Benjamin Robbins Curtis]] - 1851 (Associate Justice)
=== States admitted to the Union ===
* [[California]] – [[September 9]], [[1850]]
==Legacy==
Some northern Whigs remained irreconcilable, refusing to forgive Fillmore for having signed the [[Fugitive Slave Law of 1850|Fugitive Slave Act]]. They helped deprive him of the Presidential nomination in 1852. Within a few years it was apparent that although the Compromise had been intended to settle the slavery controversy, it served rather as an uneasy sectional truce.
Because the Whig party was so deeply divided, and the two leading national figures in the Whig party (Fillmore and his own Secretary of State, Daniel Webster) refused to combine to secure the nomination, [[Winfield Scott]] received it. Because both the north and the south refused to unite behind Scott, he won only 4 of 31 states, and lost the election to Franklin Pierce.
After Fillmore's defeat the Whig party continued its downward spiral with further party division coming at the hands of the Kansas Nebraska Act, and the emergence of the Know Nothing party.
== Later life ==
[[Image:DSCN4470 buffalofillmorestatue e.jpg|thumb|right|120px|Statue of Fillmore outside City Hall in downtown [[Buffalo, New York]].]]
Fillmore was one of the founders of the [[University at Buffalo, The State University of New York|University of Buffalo]]. The school was chartered by an act of the New York State Legislature on [[May 11]], [[1846]], and at first was only a medical school.[http://ublib.buffalo.edu/archives/timeline/time1.html] Fillmore was the first [[Chancellor (education)|Chancellor]], a position he maintained while both Vice President and President. Upon completing his presidency, Fillmore returned to Buffalo, where he continued to serve as chancellor.
After the death of his daughter [[Mary Abigail Fillmore|Mary]], Fillmore went abroad. While touring [[Europe]] in 1855, Fillmore was offered an [[Honorary doctorate|honorary]] [[Doctor of Civil Law]] (D.C.L.) degree by the [[University of Oxford]]. Fillmore turned down the honor, explaining that he had neither the "literary nor scientific attainment" to justify the degree.[http://www.ipl.org/div/potus/mfillmore.html] He is also quoted as having explained that he "lacked the benefit of a classical education" and could not, therefore, understand the [[Latin]] text of the [[diploma]], then joking that he believed "no man should accept a degree he cannot read."[http://www.hwwilson.com/Print/Facts%20Pres%20Sample.pdf]
[[Image:Fillmore2.JPG|thumb|left|120px|Fillmore/Donelson campaign poster.]]By 1856, Fillmore's Whig Party had ceased to exist, having fallen apart due to dissension over the slavery issue, and especially the [[Kansas-Nebraska Act]] of 1854. Fillmore refused to join the new [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party]], where many former Whigs, including [[Abraham Lincoln]], had found refuge. Instead, Fillmore joined the anti-immigrant, anti-Catholic [[American Party]], the political organ of the [[Know-Nothing movement]].
He ran in the [[United States presidential election, 1856|'''election of 1856''']] as the party's presidential candidate, attempting to win a non-consecutive second term as President (a feat accomplished only once in American politics, by [[Grover Cleveland]]). His running mate was [[Andrew Jackson Donelson]], nephew of former president [[Andrew Jackson]]. Fillmore and Donelson finished third, carrying only the state of Maryland and its eight electoral votes; but he won 21.6% of the popular vote, one of the best showings ever by a Presidential third-party candidate.[[Image:Fillmore Gravesite, Buffalo, NY.jpg|thumb|right|120px|A pink obelisk marks Millard Fillmore's grave at [[Buffalo, New York|Buffalo]]'s [[Forest Lawn Cemetery (Buffalo)|Forest Lawn Cemetery]].]]
On [[February 10]], [[1858]], after the death of his first wife, Fillmore married [[Caroline Fillmore|Caroline McIntosh]], a wealthy widow. Their combined wealth allowed them to purchase a big house in Buffalo, New York. The house became the center of hospitality for visitors, until her health began to decline in the 1860s.
Throughout the [[American Civil War|Civil War]], Fillmore opposed [[Abraham Lincoln|President Lincoln]] and during [[Reconstruction]] supported [[Andrew Johnson|President Johnson]]. He commanded the Union Continentals, a corps of [[militia|home guard]]s of males over the age of 45 from the [[Upstate New York]] area, during the Civil War.
He died at 11:10 p.m. on [[March 8]], [[1874]], of the after-effects of a [[stroke]]. His last words were alleged to be, upon being fed some soup, "my only regret in death is that the Whig dies with me." On [[January 7]] each year, a ceremony is held at his grave site in the [[Forest Lawn Cemetery (Buffalo)|Forest Lawn Cemetery]] in Buffalo.
==Places named after Fillmore==
*[[Fillmore Glen State Park]], New York
*[[Fillmore County, Minnesota]]
*[[Fillmore County, Nebraska]]
*[[Fillmore, Utah]]
*[[Millard County, Utah]]
*Fillmore Avenue, on the East Side of [[Buffalo, New York]]
*Millard Fillmore Gates Circle Hospital, Buffalo
*Millard Fillmore Suburban Hospital, [[Williamsville, New York]]
*Millard Fillmore Academic Center at the [[University at Buffalo]]'s Ellicott Complex
*Fillmore Street, in downtown [[San Francisco, California]],<ref>{{cite web|
|url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/e/a/1997/02/08/NEWS10248.dtl&hw=jonestown&sn=164&sc=132
|title="Fillmore Street name change urged"
|work=[[San Francisco Chronicle|SFGate.com]]
|first=Gregory
|last=Lewis
|date=[[February 8]], [[1997]]
|accessdate=2008-02-25
}}</ref> after which, in turn, the [[The Fillmore|Fillmore Auditorium]] was named
*Fillmore Street, in downtown [[Phoenix, Arizona]]
==Trivia==
{{trivia|date=February 2008}}
*Fillmore Junior High School in the television series [[The Brady Bunch]]
*The 1980s sitcom [[Head of the Class]] took place at the fictional "Millard Fillmore High School".
*The comic strip [[Mallard Fillmore]] is named after the president.
*In 2007, [[George Pendle]] wrote ''The Remarkable Millard Fillmore'', a fake biography based on real events that happened in Fillmore's life.
*In February 2008, a television commercial for a sales event by [[Kia]] Motors featured Millard Fillmore, referring to him as "Unheard of," claims he had the first [[Bathtub hoax|bathtub]] installed in the [[White House]], and presented a Millard Fillmore bust as a 'Soap-On-A-Rope.' This story may have begun as a hoax by [[Henry Louis Mencken]].<ref>http://sniggle.net/bathtub.php</ref><ref>[http://members.aol.com/zoticus/bathlib/menck/ambath.htm H. L. Mencken: "A Neglected Anniversary"<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref><ref>[http://theplumber.com/white.html White House Plumbing<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref><ref>[http://plumbingworld.com/historywhitehouse.html Plumbing History in The White House<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>
[[Image:millard fillmore stamp.JPG|thumb|right|120px|Millard Fillmore postage stamp]]
*The myth that Millard Fillmore installed the [[White House]]'s first [[bathtub]] was started by [[H. L. Mencken]] in a joke column published on [[December 28]], [[1917]] in the ''[[New York Evening Mail]].'' (See [[Bathtub hoax]])
*Millard Fillmore was the last U.S. president who was neither a [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrat]] nor a [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] (although [[Abraham Lincoln]] was re-elected in 1864 running on the [[National Union Party (United States)|National Union Party]] ticket with Democrat [[Andrew Johnson]] as his running mate).
*Fillmore is the first of two presidents to have been an [[indentured servant]]. He was a [[Fulling|clothmaker]].
*[[Friends of Millard Filmore]], or FOMF, is an annual trivia hunt founded by Dr. Robert Hunter in 1967 at [[Carlmont High School]], several schools in Northern California participate in this highly competitive event.
==Electoral history==
'''[[United States presidential election, 1848]]'''
* [[Zachary Taylor]]/[[Millard Fillmore]] (Whig) - 1,361,393 (47.3%) and 163 electoral votes (16 states carried)
* [[Lewis Cass]]/[[William Orlando Butler]] (Democrats) - 1,223,460 (42.5%) and 127 electoral votes (15 states carried)
* [[Martin Van Buren]]/[[Charles Francis Adams, Sr.]] (Free Soil) - 291,501 (10.1%) and 0 electoral votes
'''[[United States presidential election, 1856]]'''
* [[James Buchanan]]/[[John C. Breckinridge]] (Democrats) - 1,836,072 (45.3%) and 174 electoral votes (19 states carried)
* [[John C. Fremont]]/[[William L. Dayton]] (Republicans) - 1,342,345 (33.1%) and 114 electoral votes (11 states carried)
* [[Millard Fillmore]]/[[Andrew Jackson Donelson]] (Know-Nothing/Whig) - 873,053 (21.6%) and 8 electoral votes (1 state carried)
==Plaques to Fillmore==
<gallery>
Image:Fillmore Home 2.jpg|Fillmore's East Aurora house was moved off Main Street.
Image:Fillmore House NHL.jpg|The house is designated a [[National Historic Landmark]].
Image:Fillmore DAR.jpg|The [[DAR]] placed this plaque on the house in 1931.
Image:Fillmore plot plaque.jpg|A memorial to Fillmore on the gate surrounding his plot in Buffalo.
Image:Fillmore obelisk detail.jpg|Detail of the Fillmore obelisk in Buffalo.
Image:Abigail Powers headstone.jpg|First Lady [[Abigail Powers]] is buried near her husband.
</gallery>
==See also==
* [[U.S. presidential election, 1848]]
* [[U.S. presidential election, 1856]]
* [[William Gannaway Brownlow]]
* [[Runaway Officials of 1851]]
==Notes==
{{reflist|2}}
==References==
* Holt, Michael F. "Millard Fillmore”. The American Presidency. Ed.Alan Brinkley,Davis Dyer.2004.145-151.
* Deusen, Van Glydon. "The American Presidency". Encyclopedia Americana. Accessed 9, May 2007.[http://ap.grolier.com/article?assetid=0156400-00&templatename=/article/article.html]
==External links==
{{wikisource author}}
{{wikiquote}}
{{Commons}}
{{CongBio|F000115}}
* [http://www.millercenter.virginia.edu/index.php/academic/americanpresident/fillmore Extensive essay on Millard Fillmore and shorter essays on each member of his cabinet and First Lady from the Miller Center of Public Affairs]
* [http://www.usa-presidents.info/union/fillmore-1.html First State of the Union Address]
* [http://www.usa-presidents.info/union/fillmore-2.html Second State of the Union Address]
* [http://www.usa-presidents.info/union/fillmore-3.html Third State of the Union Address]
* [http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/mf13.html White House Biography]
*[http://MillardFillmore.org Biography by Appleton's and Stanley L. Klos]
* {{gutenberg author| id=Millard+Fillmore | name=Millard Fillmore}}
* [http://obits.com/fillmoremillard.html Millard Fillmore Internet Obituary]
* [http://freenet.buffalo.edu/bah/h/niagsq/fil/index.html Millard Fillmore House, Buffalo, NY]
* [http://www.ah.phpwebhosting.com/a/shearer/mus/hist/ Millard and Abigail Fillmore House, East Aurora, NY]
* [http://ap.grolier.com/article?assetid=0156400-00 Millard Fillmore at Encyclopedia American: The American Presidency]
{{s-start}}
{{s-par|us-hs}}
{{s-new|district}}
{{s-ttl|title=Member from [[New York's 32nd congressional district|New York's<br />32nd congressional district]]|years=March 4, 1833 – March 3, 1835}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Thomas C. Love]]}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Thomas C. Love]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=Member from [[New York's 32nd congressional district|New York's<br />32nd congressional district]]|years=March 4, 1837 – March 3, 1843}}
{{s-aft|after=[[William A. Moseley]]}}
{{s-off}}
{{s-bef|before=[[John Winston Jones|John W. Jones]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[United States House Committee on Ways and Means#Chairpersons|Chairman of the United States House<br />Ways and Means Committee]]|years=1841 – 1843}}
{{s-aft|after=[[James Iver McKay|James I. McKay]]}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Azariah Cutting Flagg|Azariah C. Flagg]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[New York State Comptroller]]|years=1847 – 1849}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Washington Hunt]]}}
{{s-bef|before=[[George M. Dallas]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Vice President of the United States]]|years=March 4, 1849¹ – July 9, 1850²}}
{{s-aft|after=[[William R. King]]}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Zachary Taylor]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[President of the United States]]|years=July 9, 1850³ – March 4, 1853}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Franklin Pierce]]}}
{{s-ppo}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Theodore Frelinghuysen]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[United States Whig Party#Candidates|Whig Party vice presidential candidate]]|years=[[U.S. presidential election, 1848|1848]]}}
{{s-aft|after=[[William A. Graham]]}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Winfield Scott]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[United States Whig Party#Candidates|Whig Party presidential candidate]]|years=[[U.S. presidential election, 1856|1856]]}}
{{s-aft|after=[[John Bell (Tennessee politician)|John Bell]]}}
{{s-new|party}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Know-Nothing movement|American Party presidential candidate]]|years=[[U.S. presidential election, 1856|1856]]}}
{{s-non|reason=Party disbanded}}
{{s-hon}}
{{s-bef|before=[[James Buchanan]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Oldest living United States president|Oldest U.S. President still living]]|years=June 1, 1868 – March 8, 1874}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Andrew Johnson]]}}
{{s-ref|Although Fillmore's term started on March 4, he did not take the oath of office until March 5.|President Zachary Taylor died on July 9.|Fillmore took the oath of office on July 10.}}
{{USPresidents}}
{{US Vice Presidents}}
{{USWhigPresNominees}}
{{USWhigVicePresNominees}}
{{Buffalo(NY)}}
{{Persondata
|NAME=Fillmore, Millard
|ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
|SHORT DESCRIPTION=13th President of the United States, 12th Vice President of the United States
|DATE OF BIRTH=January 7, 1800
|PLACE OF BIRTH=Summerhill, New York
|DATE OF DEATH=March 8, 1874
|PLACE OF DEATH=Buffalo, New York
}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fillmore, Millard}}
[[Category:1800 births]]
[[Category:1874 deaths]]
[[Category:American Unitarians]]
[[Category:History of the United States (1849–1865)]]
[[Category:Members of the New York Assembly]]
[[Category:Members of the United States House of Representatives from New York]]
[[Category:New York State Comptrollers]]
[[Category:People from Cayuga County, New York]]
[[Category:Presidents of the United States]]
[[Category:United States Whig Party]]
[[Category:University at Buffalo]]
[[Category:Vice Presidents of the United States]]
[[Category:Whig Party (United States) presidential nominees]]
[[Category:Know Nothing]]
[[Category:United States presidential candidates, 1856]]
[[Category:Whig Party (United States) vice presidential nominees]]
[[Category:Deaths by stroke]]
[[ang:Millard Fillmore]]
[[ar:ميلارد فيلمور]]
[[bg:Милърд Филмор]]
[[bn:মিলার্ড ফিল্মোর]]
[[bs:Millard Fillmore]]
[[co:Millard Filmore]]
[[cs:Millard Fillmore]]
[[cy:Millard Fillmore]]
[[da:Millard Fillmore]]
[[de:Millard Fillmore]]
[[eo:Millard Fillmore]]
[[es:Millard Fillmore]]
[[et:Millard Fillmore]]
[[fa:میلارد فیلمور]]
[[fi:Millard Fillmore]]
[[fr:Millard Fillmore]]
[[ga:Millard Fillmore]]
[[gl:Millard Fillmore]]
[[he:מילרד פילמור]]
[[hi:मिलर्ड फिलमोर]]
[[hr:Millard Fillmore]]
[[id:Millard Fillmore]]
[[io:Millard Fillmore]]
[[it:Millard Fillmore]]
[[ja:ミラード・フィルモア]]
[[ka:მილარდ ფილმორი]]
[[ko:밀러드 필모어]]
[[la:Milvardus Fillmore]]
[[lv:Milards Filmors]]
[[mr:मिलार्ड फिलमोर]]
[[ms:Millard Fillmore]]
[[nl:Millard Fillmore]]
[[nn:Millard Fillmore]]
[[no:Millard Fillmore]]
[[oc:Millard Fillmore]]
[[pam:Millard Fillmore]]
[[pl:Millard Fillmore]]
[[pt:Millard Fillmore]]
[[rm:Millard Fillmore]]
[[ro:Millard Fillmore]]
[[ru:Филлмор, Миллард]]
[[sh:Millard Fillmore]]
[[simple:Millard Fillmore]]
[[sl:Millard Fillmore]]
[[sq:Millard Fillmore]]
[[sv:Millard Fillmore]]
[[sw:Millard Fillmore]]
[[tr:Millard Fillmore]]
[[vi:Millard Fillmore]]
[[yi:מילארד פילמאר]]
[[zh:米勒德·菲尔莫尔]]
